Project: Birthday Surprise
by Paradoxos
Summary: [ONESHOT]It's Sakura's birthday! What does her Hyuuga boyfriend have planned for her? What is this? TEN HOURS OF TRAINING! [Neji x Sakura]


**Disclaimer: Dun own Naruto...**

**_'...text'_** Inner Sakura

_'...text' _Sakura's thoughts/sound effects

"...text" dailogue/ present

**NOTE: One-sided NejiTen in the middle, added for special effects! Characters taken from Chapters 245-253 of the manga.**

**Dedicated to Sakura-Chan! Happy Birthday! And to Mizutama, the NejiSaku fanatic!**

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**Project: Birthday Surprise!**

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

The all too familiar ear-splitting sound of the morning alarm broke through the silent atmosphere, awakening both the dead and alive within a five-meter radius.

In doing so, not only had the clock served its purpose...but it also requested for its own destruction as well. For soon, a structure or two would be sent for its assassination.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Anytime now.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

And there it goes, the slender yet brutal hand that had imitated the movements of a snake was slowly drawing near its prey.

Three inches.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

The target seems to be caught completely off guard.

Two inches. And...one... It strikes, lunging forward with great speed and agility.

_Beep! Bee-_

_Click!_

Silence...

There was no loud thuds, or rambunctious bonks or bangs, or the usual crash in which it echoes-... You get the picture.

She was up and alert as an Easter bunny as soon as the beeping ceased. She was smiling, her emerald eyes bright. Her luscious glossy bubble gum strands had become like the wild vines hanging in the jungle.

She was still smiling.

Her breath stunk and she felt dirty...

She was still smiling.

...All because of that one little box that had taken up five percent of the page on her March calender was...circled.

That's right, it had clearly marked the day as a special one. Not just any special day.

Today, the one and only Jounin apprentice of the Fifth Hokage was to be eighteen years of age, marking the beginning to her adulthood.

Her name is Haruno Sakura.

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" I'm telling you, Forehead-girl, it's impossible!"

" Hey, I have a name, Ino-pig-Chan!" she fumed, crossing her arms before her bosoms. " And it's not impossible! I know he'll get me a present! Just you see!"

The pair was currently held within a heated argument in the Yamanaka Flower Shop, their favorite place to duel. So far, both sides was tied in a draw match.

" Yeah, sure," the blonde replied carelessly, paying more attention to her perfectly manicured hands than to the other Kunoichi. " What makes you think that Hyuuga Neji, prodigy of the Hyuuga family, would still be a genius when it comes to buying a birthday present for his girlfriend?"

What her friend said had made perfect sense to her. After all, guys were dumbasses when it involved a romantic relationship with the opposite gender. Her former teammate, Uchiha Sasuke, was the perfect example.

She shuddered, remembering back to the times when she used to follow him around like a lovesick puppy. She had been weak back then, always the one behind her teammates and the one being protected. The past just made her sick down to the pit of her stomach.

' **_It's different now! You're the top Jounin medical nin in this place! And plus, you've found Neji-kun!' _**Inner Sakura congratulated her with her usual hyperactive voice (just like Naruto's, she thought).

Indeed, he was someone who stood out in the crowd (maybe since his skills was no longer rivaled)after Sasuke had departed from the village.

At first, she saw him as another power-hungry man (another Uchiha Sasuke in that case). He had fought mercilessly against his cousin, Hyuuga Hinata, and had attempted to kill her out of anger.

Yet, when he had risked his life to help his teammates, his companions, during the retrieval of the Uchiha, she saw him in a different light (Heck, she even saw Naruto differently after that).

And she began noticing how pleasant he was to the eye when he was raised to a Jounin. Those pair of almond milk white eyes, that smooth flow of silk brown hair that cascaded down his back, and that-

" Hey, Forehead-girl, snap out of it! You're drooling!"

She wiped unconsciously at the corner of her mouth, while glaring daggers across the counter.

" Whatever, Ino-pig. What do you know?"

" Believe me, I have my sources." The females' shiny turquoise orbs immediately became distant, as if something had turned to possess her (a vision of the past, by the looks on her countenance). " It happened last year, on March 9th, Ten Ten's birthday. Both her sensei and her current boyfriend was away on a mission to the Country of the Sand. She was left all alone with the Hyuuga that day. She told me that he had promised her a birthday present, which he had wanted to give her all this time..."

She paused, looking over to her friend who was leaning over the counter, looking deeply intrigued by her tale. The Yamanaka knew of that look. It had been the face that she'd put on whenever anyone talked of her "other half". In that case, it was now Hyuuga Neji.

" Go on..." she encouraged.

Ino nodded, returning back to her previous trance, her voice becoming mere whispers to the ear.

" At first, Ten Ten had been excited... or was maybe on the verge of jumping up and down for joy. I mean, she's had a crush on him for quite some time then, and she saw it as the perfect opportunity to get to know him better...

" Little did she know, that her plan would backfire on her... When the Hyuuga spoke of her surprise that day, his actual meaning behind his words was something like, ' Only you and me. We must train 100 times as hard as we usually do.' As a result, he trained her for ten hours straight right on the spot like an animal in the circus. After that, she ended up not going to practice the next day, as she laid in bed motionlessly, as if her body was paralyzed for the whole time."

Sakura was stuck dumbfounded. Traing for ten hours straight? Had her sweet and gentle Neji-kun been a workaholic Shinobi last year? What about him this year? The thought alone was enough to send chills down her spine.

" So, Sakura, this is what it takes to be in love with a Hyuuga genius. You have to give up a lot, you know? And who knows if you'll survive through it all. Maybe you should stay inside today, hide somewhere that he can't find you."

Maybe she should?

" Then again, there's nothing that he can't find with his Byakugan," she chuckled, voice returning back to normal. " Or maybe you can see this as the perfect chance to lose some weight."

" Stop being a bitch, Ino-pig!" she complained.

" I speak only the truth."

" Sheesh, stop exaggerating so much! It's impossible for anyone to train for ten hours straight, prodigy or not! I mean, come on! I went through some harsh training with Tsunade-Sensei before... and the most we've been at it was only about three hours. And you know how the Hokages are on their apprentice."

' _Right?'_

Nervous laughter erupted from her throat as she took some uneasy steps back.

_Thud!_

Unexpectedly, her back hit a firm surface, stopping her on her tracks.

_Heartbeat._

" Uh, Sakura... 'He' is here..." Raising a trembling hand, she pointed her index finger towards the figure behind her friend.

The Haruno turned with caution. Looking up, she came face to face with the current leader of the Hyuuga Branch House himself.

He gazed at her through a pair of questioning pearly orbs, his "I-Have-to-be-a-Mature-Shinobi" facade was tightly secured in place.

' _**So that's how a leader would look...'**_

" A-ah, Hyuuga-Sama-...uh... I-I m-mean, N-Neji-k-kun! H-how a-are you?" She fidgeted with her hands in front of her endlessly, bringing an comfortable smile to her cherry lips.

' _I wonder if he'll mistake me for-...'_

" I see that you have been with Hinata-Sama for too long, Sakura," he commented, voice dry and dripping with sarcasm. " Come, we shall fix that."

She swore she detected a double meaning to that.

He then took her hand in a tight grip that had her trailing hopelessly behind him.

" Ino! Help me!" she mouthed desperately.

In return, the blonde smile and waved the couple a cheerful goodbye.

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Author's Crap: 

I needed a break from Diamond Vision...

Woah, I'm back again after all this time... For those of you who survived through the fic, I congratulate you...

Well, I was reading the Naruto manga the other day and got mad at Sasuke for being so mean to Naruto (for those of you who haven't read the manga, GO READ IT!)... So I just had to write a NejiSaku fic! Weird, I know... Thanks for reading!


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